After overcoming their toughest group opponent in Brazil two days ago, Team USA has a chance to take it slow as they get closer to the elimination portion of the tournament. Coach K was able to keep all of his players under 21 minutes of play and the Americans defeated Iran 88-51 to improve to 4-0 in group play.
“It was an honor to play against (Iran),” said Coach Mike Krzyzewski. “I thought the Iran team played extremely hard and had a really good game plan. I thought they played well. For us we were a little bit fresher today. In our last game, when we played Brazil, that was our sixth game in 10 days in three countries. I just thought we were tired, more mentally than physically.”
The United States didn’t start dominating right away as a slow offensive beginning kept them at a relatively low point total. But after a period or so, their defense on Iran’s guards was too great for them to keep possession of the ball and Team USA started to force a lot of turnovers. And as well all know, once this team gets out on the break, they are very hard to stop.
Team USA’s leading scorer was Kevin Love, who had 13 points and six rebounds in just 11 minutes of play. Love shot six-of-eight from the field including a three-pointer and a mid-range jumper. This game may not have been against the best opponent in the tournament but Love has proved that he can play at this level and, as I wrote, he should be playing more when going home and advancing are the only options starting next week.
“(Kevin)’s had a tremendous impact on our team,” Coach K said of Love. “He gives us a different center than Lamar or Tyson in that he can shoot the 3. He’s probably as good a rebounder as we have even though he’s probably undersized for the position. When he’s in the ball game, he spreads it out and we have a little more room to maneuver inside and then his rebounding has given us second and third shots. He’s done a really good job. He’s very dependable for us.”
Derrick Rose also had a great game for Team USA today, relentlessly attacking the basket and blowing by his defenders with ease play after play. Rose finished with 11 points on five-of-six shooting. Kevin Durant also had double digit points with 12 to go along with five rebounds in 20 minutes, which is half the amount of time he played against Brazil. Assumed 11th and 12th men Danny Granger and Stephen Curry had good games off the bench as well as they received extended playing time. Granger had 10 points on four-of-six shooting while Curry had four points, four assists and five rebounds.
“I just try to come in and have energy,” said Love. “I think everybody has kind of bought into their role. For me, it’s to come in and be an energy guy. Guy that rebounds and gets easy baskets, shoot high percentage and plays good defense. A couple of things I can always do is play defense and rebound. That’s the kind of mindset I have coming into the game and it’s worked for me this far in my career and this far in this tournament.”
Iran was lead by NBA player Hamed Haddadi even though he had a particularly bad day from the field. Haddadi had 19 points and six rebounds but he shot just seven-of-22 from the field (0-of-5 from three). Still, Hamed is having a great tournament for his national team as he is averaging 21 points and nine rebounds a game.
Team USA will have another easy game tomorrow against Tunisia before advancing to the elimination rounds. They lead the tournament with their 4-0 record.
